Nucleic acid-based assays have a wide variety of applications in the biological sciences. One important application is the detection of certain nucleic acid sequences in a biological sample. This type of assay has become useful in determining whether certain organisms, for example, microbial or viral pathogens (for example, Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC), or human papillomavirus (HPV)), are or have been present in a particular sample of interest. This can be helpful in determining whether an individual of interest, for example, a human, has or has not been infected with a particular organism. This type of information can be important for treating or managing the health of an individual.
A variety of nucleic acid extraction solutions have been developed over the years for extracting nucleic acid sequences from a sample of interest. See, for example, Sambrook et al. (Eds.) Molecular Cloning, (1989) Cold Spring Harbor Press. Many such methods typically require one or more steps of, for example, a detergent-mediated cell lysis step, a proteinase treatment step, a phenol and/or chloroform extraction step, and an alcohol precipitation step. Such methods typically require multiple steps, and can be time consuming. Inadvertent omission or improper sequence of one or more steps may result in less efficient nucleic acid extraction. Furthermore, when extracting nucleic acids from multiple samples, the more steps a particular method has, the more likely it is that samples become cross-contaminated during processing. When the resulting nucleic acid sample is analyzed, for example, by using an amplification-based protocol, for example, via polymerase chain reaction, cross-contamination may lead to false-positive results, which, in a clinical setting, may be significant.
Accordingly, it is desirable to produce a nucleic extraction solution that can be used in a simple, quick, and reliable nucleic acid extraction protocol that minimizes the risk of cross-contamination between samples, and that the resulting nucleic acids may be analyzed using conventional methodologies. These and other objects and features of the invention will be more clearly understood from the following description and claims.